2010 Winter Olympics: Jeret 'Speedy; Peterson triumphs with silver

CYPRESS, British Columbia — Park City's Jeret "Speedy" Peterson finally did in the sport he loves what he's been doing every day of his troubled, painful, young life.

He landed on his feet.

On a cold, clear Thursday night, Peterson stared down the toughest trick possible in men's aerials — a triple flip with five twists, called the hurricane, that has both haunted and heralded his career — and it won him a silver medal on the much maligned mountains of Cypress.

"I don't know that I can really put it into words," he said of standing on the podium at his third Olympic Games after earning a score of 247.21. Belarus' Alexei Grishin won gold with a score of 248.41. China's Zhongquing Lui won bronze, and Peterson's U.S. teammate Ryan St. Onge was fourth.

After the silver medalist landed the hurricane, he skied into St. Onge's arms and celebrated what has been a tumultuous ride.

"It's not so much about the medal; it's not about the podium," said the 28-year-old Boise native. "It's about everything that I've been able to overcome. It's what it represents to me. Do I think it's awesome? You bet. I think when I hug my mom, it's going to hit me."

The idea of twisting and flipping through the air on skis has always been less troubling than the idea of dealing with the demons that tortured his life away from sport.

"I've had all kinds of things," he said of his problems off the snow, which have often hampered his development in the sport. "I've had trouble with alcohol that I've gotten taken care of. I've had depression; I've had suicide attempts; I had a roommate of mine commit suicide in front of me, and that's been in the last four to six years."

Peterson was sent home early from Torino in 2006 after he got into a drunken brawl at a bar. Before that embarrassing incident, he'd thrown the hurricane in an effort to win gold, failed to land it, and it cost him a medal. He finished ninth in 2002 and seventh in Torino.

Before his third trip to the Games, he talked with the Deseret News in Park City, where he has lived and trained for nearly 10 years. He said he has taken time off from skiing twice in an effort to deal with personal issues that range from trouble with alcohol to depression.